PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT?TRANSPLANTATION GROUP Through this Funding Opportunity Announcement, the NIAID Division of Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation (DAIT) intends to consolidate its funding for multiple, independent coordinating centers into a single, multi-component cooperative agreement in order to reduce costs and increase efficiency and standardization across research consortia. This new program will fund a single Center to support DAIT research in the areas of asthma and allergic diseases, autoimmune diseases, and transplantation. In the area of solid organ transplantation, the Center will support 4 consortia: Clinical Trials in Organ Transplantation (CTOT), Clinical Trials in Organ Transplantation in Children (CTOT-C), Genomics of Transplantation Cooperative Research Program (GTCRP), and the organ transplantation component of the Immune Tolerance Network (ITN). Within the Center, support for these 4 consortia will be organized under 1 group, the Transplantation Group (TG). The objective of the TG is to provide excellent and efficient study coordination support services across the transplant research consortia. To accomplish this objective, RhoFED aims to (1) provide staff experienced in transplantation research conducted by DAIT-supported consortia and to organize these staff in an administrative structure that manages resources efficiently, be responsive to the needs of the research consortia and DAIT, and facilitate communication and collaboration; (2) provide experienced scientists and statisticians who, in collaboration with clinical investigators and senior DAIT officials, will design and analyze studies across the full scope of research in transplantation; (3) facilitate the development, review, and revision of initial and successive drafts of protocols and protocol-related documents through dedicated TG protocol teams; and (4) provide study initiation and study management functions that are required for the efficient and ethical conduct of studies. Because RhoFED is currently the Statistical and Clinical Coordinating Center (SACCC) for the CTOT, CTOT-C and GTCRP consortia and is the Statistical Data Coordinating Center (SDCC) for ITN, Rho is uniquely well-qualified to provide consolidated Center support across these consortia. By providing staff with experience in supporting transplantation research, an administrative infrastructure designed to enhance collaboration between DAIT Project Officers and the consortia investigators, and a plan for agile and effective resource management, we believe that support of these consortia through the newly formed Center and its TG will directly contribute to the achievement of the DAIT objective to improve clinical outcomes following solid organ transplantation.